'Revolution': So that just happened ...

There was a
shocking turn of events on Monday's midseason premiere of
"Revolution."

Danny Matheson,
whose rescue dominated the first half of the season, was killed after
firing a rocket into and destroying General Monroe's helicopters.

In a conference
call with reporters last week, "Revolution" co-creator and
Executive Producer Eric Kripke and star Elizabeth Mitchell (Rachel
Matheson) offered some explanation as to why the show went in this
surprising direction.

Kripke was asked if
he had any concerns viewers "might throw up their hands in
exasperation that, after all the effort to get the brother back, the
writers go and kill him right away."

His response was
"no, we don't think so. I mean, I think it will be -- it's exactly
the right type of shocking development that really ramps up everybody
up emotionally towards -- ramps everybody up for their mission in
the second half of the season and it just -- it really emotionally
escalates everything."

When asked why
Danny was killed, and not another character, Kripke said, "because
we looked around and we needed a massive instigating incident to kick
off the second half of the season, and every character needs an
intense emotional drive and wants to face down General Monroe and to
not do it just for political reasons, but do it for intensely
personal and tortured reasons. And as the writers discussed it at
length, we realized that this move would not only, I think, blow
people's hair back, but really mobilize everybody -- mobilize all
the characters -- to take the fight to Monroe in the most fraught and
desperate way possible."

Near the end of the
episode, a grieving Rachel pulled a pulsating, capsule-shaped item
out of Danny's dead body. Though the world lost all electricity
(batteries, too) during a global blackout 15 years earlier, somehow
this object has remained active.

Mitchell was asked
if viewers would find out more about this strange device, which was
teased earlier in the show as saving a hospitalized Danny's life.

"I believe that
we absolutely will, and it's really intriguing," she said. "I was
intrigued by it as a nerd, so I think that you'll be satisfied -- as
gratified."

Kripke has promised
to answer many of "Revolution's" mythology questions within the
midseason's first three episodes.